And it also inevitably attracted arrogant narcissists to join up.

I already know I'm superior to most Christians, as I am smarter, better educated, and less hypocritical..

@TomMcGiverin And so modest too. But better honest than modest.

@Fernapple I am generally modest, but when it comes to a group that is generally so arrogant and superior-acting to non-believers, esp. around where I live, I am going to choose honesty and say the truth of my superiority to them overall, compared to most of them.

@TomMcGiverin Right on.

Most honest, thinking, intelligent people don't need a formal study to be able to figure out how things are, but studies are needed for those views to be validated and accepted by society in general, as well as those that don't want to believe or see the truth, or are too dense to see the truth.

@TomMcGiverin - We hear a number of Muslims claim Islam is a religion of peace, but it is a hollow claim after video of the beheading of Western journalists are revealed and we realize who it was who dismember Jamal Khashoggi. American Christians make the same sorts of claims and historically have the same basic problem as Islam if not quite so blatant of examples might not be readily apparent in more recent times. The experiment demonstrates that the underlying dynamic is still incorporated within the Christian psyche. I recall as a believer being told from the pulpit that others of my religion were more trust worthy than those outside. It was a lie, of course, but it made us feel better about our shortcomings and we didn't need to work quite as hard to treat everyone as equals.

@RussRAB You are aware of what Christians did to Myslims during the crusades... right? At the time, Christianity was about as old as Islam is today.

Any religion can be twisted to fit a person's personal agenda. Isn't that, in part, why we, on this site, don't belong to any of them?

@snytiger6 - The truth is that any philosophy can be twisted to fit an individual's desires. The idea of survival of the fittest was twisted to justify eugenics - that individuals could determine fitness better than nature could. For me, I don't believe in religions because I believe they are unsupportable by direct evidence and I've witnessed first hand how individuals use religion to manipulate to harm others for their own benefit. I will need to deal with con men off and on in this life anyway; I don't need a faux Pollyanna religion trying to blind and guilt me to their nefarious behaviors.

@snytiger6 - BTW, I am aware of what Christians did to Muslims during the Crusades as well as to Jews and to each other when schisms arose. I didn't let Christians off the hook in my comment, only perhaps recognized that their behavior in more recent history isn't necessarily quite as violent as in earlier eras. Of late, the rhetoric of certain Christians in the US has been a throw back to more Medieval times. I fear that for some, they won't stop just at rhetoric. What humans are capable of doing to one another is amazingly disgusting.